Lincoln County Commissioners approve bridge projects, debate budget increases

The Lincoln County Commissioners met Tuesday, July 1 in the Lincoln County Boardroom. With Chairwoman Tiffani Landeen absent from the meeting, Commissioner Jim Schmidt took control of the room opening the floor to public comment. Hearing none, Highway Superintendent, Terry Fluit took to the podium to request the commission consider a motion to approve the chair to execute the Letting Authorization for the South Dakota Department of Transportation for PCN 09MH, structure 42-120-158 bridge replacement, located on CR125. 

“This is a grant we were awarded back in 2023 out of the federal bridge program grant from the state, and the state is getting ready to let this project later this year for construction next year and this is at 100 percent replacement cost,” Fluit said. 

A motion to approve made by Betty Otten, seconded by Joel Arends, motion carried.  

Fluit next asked for board action to approve a change order in the amount of $10,868 for project PCN 09M0, structure #42-020-201. 

“This structure is part of the three structures that we are getting preservation work done on. Again, this is through a bridge improvement grant through the state of South Dakota. This bridge is located on old Highway 17, just over three miles South of Highway 18. 

They were supposed to be doing some abutment work on it, and we ended up having some problems out there. The girder ends are all going to get encased in concrete, but the crack on the girder is too close to the end of the concrete so we need to add some stiffeners into that before we can pour it,” Fluit said. Motion to approve by Arends, seconded by Otten, motion carried.

States Attorney, Tom Wollman was present for the States Attorney budget work session. 

“We don’t have a huge increase to our budget lines for next year, our biggest expense is of course our salaries and comp. Currently, we have an open attorney position in the office that’s been funded through this entire year. We have not been able to fill that, but we anticipate filling it soon,” Wollman said. 

Commissioner Otten questioned the rental line. “Rentals include our copier and things of that nature, we don’t own those,” he responded. 

Commissioner Schmidt asked Wollman for an overview of the department as a whole and if there has been an increase or decrease on felony crimes. 

“I think it is still a slight increase, after hearing the weed board the other day, I would say that Canadian thistle is the equivalent of a methamphetamine addiction. We know we can hit it with some Toronon and knock it back if we get it before it flowers because we know it spreads by seed and it spreads by root and it’s a very difficult addiction to knock out,” he responded.

Auditor, Sheri Lund was present for the Auditor’s Budget work session. Lund has budget increases for the Election, Auditor, Support of Poor budget, Mentally Ill, Rural fire, Tif #8, and Tif #9. 

“The election budget increase is due to the 2026 election cycle. I am going to request an increase in supplies and materials in the amount of $2,500 as I’ve found a program that we can use to track election workers and make it so they can apply online to be an election worker and send out notifications to those that are,” she said. 

For the Auditor’s office, Lund requested a new vehicle for the department. 

“This won’t just be the Auditor’s vehicle, it would be a vehicle for the county for anybody to use for out of county travel. The Auditor, Treasurer, Registered Deeds, Commissioner, State’s Attorney, Sheriff’s office, and other department heads all have trainings that they need to attend and instead of taking the smaller Equinox like we do for the Director of Equalization’s office, she graciously gives it to us when we ask, it will be a vehicle we can all pile into and travel together,” she said.

Commissioner Schmidt asked for public comment on the Auditor budget and Linda Montgomery stood to speak.

 “I was trying to figure out how many vehicles Lincoln County actually has. I’m used to the military; you have a motor pool. On my civilian job, if I needed a car I put in a request and if it was available otherwise, I drove. I don’t see driving your own car as something that’s offensive, I did it my whole career. I understand people need vehicles, but when you look at everybody who comes up wanting one, it gets overwhelming,” she said. 

Assistant Commission Administrative Officer, Paul Anderson, presented the Budget Committee recommendations on outside agency funding. 

“The committee has reviewed applications and testimony, and the budget committee proposes that requests/dues to the Canton Chamber of Commerce, the Sioux Falls Chamber of Commerce, Sioux Falls Development Foundation, Sioux Metro Growth Alliance, and Forward Sioux Falls be zeroed in the proposed budget for 2026. The committee believed there should be some established policy or some uniformity in supporting economic development in the county and not just be limited to Canton and Sioux Falls,” he said. 

The budget committee funds the Beresford, Lennox, Hudson, Harrisburg, Tea, and Canton libraries who receive different amounts of funding. 

“This year we proposed giving every library the same amount of $5,000. I think our total spent in 2025 was $27,000. This would increase that to $30,000, but every library would get the same amount,” he said. The commission thanked him for his report.